Have you noticed the miracles of the Bible when God provides?
Did you notice that God always provides more than enough?
Two examples stand out to me
- 2 Kings 4:1-7 The Widow and the Olive Oil (NIV)
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
2. Matthew 14:13-21 Jesus Feeds the 5000
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
In both these passages I am struck by several things
- In order for the miracle to occur people had to take a step of faith believing what God told them to do. It would seem ridiculous for the widow to send her sons out for empty jars and even more ridiculous for her to start pouring the little oil she had into bigger jars. It would seem ridiculous for the disciples to start passing out such a small amount of food to such a huge crowd.
- God in His great grace supplied more than enough. In both cases there were left overs. He doesn’t supply just enough. He provides more than enough.
How does this apply to you today?
Can you believe God always provides?
For other spiritual lessons that we can learn from 2 Kings 4 check out these articles
- Can we out give God? When we give our fear is that we will run out but you can’t out give God
- God will take the little we give Him and turn it to much
- The Source of our Supply is God Himself
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